Chinese Myth, Religion and Confucius

I wrote the following for my California born children.

Oct. 30, 2017 is the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation. One may ponder again why religion has not played nearly as large a role in China as in most other civilizations. Below, I retell one plausible explanation. 

Ancient myths set the foundations of religions and humans' view of their place in the universe.

Familiar myth:  A god, Prometheus, gave fire to humans, and Zeus punished him by chaining him to a rock and having his liver eaten by an eagle every day. Chinese myth: A person named 燧人氏 invented using wood sticks to start fire.

Familiar myth: God punished the humans with a huge flood. Chinese myth: A man named 鲧 and his son, 禹(Yu), were tasked by their king to control the recurring floods. They led the people to fix the waterways over 20 years and successfully stopped the flooding. Yu also established the first Chinese dynasty, Xia.

Familiar myth: The Sun God is the most powerful god. Chinese myth: There were ten suns that scorched. The king asked archer 后羿 (Hou Yi) to shoot down 9 of them.

The Chinese myths depict humans triumphing over, not living in fear of, nature and gods. Therefore...  Interesting theory.

But who created the humans in Chinese myth? A female god,  女娲 (Nuwa) did it. Nu means female. She also mended a hole in the sky with five colored stones. Interestingly, she did not stay around afterward, apparently confident that her creations can solve other problems that they may face by themselves.

Confucianism is close to a Chinese religion in that it has served as a system of social and ethical rules. It teaches the values of learning, family, social order and many of the virtues taught by other religions. For example, 己所不欲勿施于人。”Do not do to others what you do not wish done to you" sounds a lot like The Golden Rule: “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets" Matthew 7:12.

On one point, Confucianism differs from religions. 季路问事鬼神。子曰：“未能事人，焉能事鬼？”曰：“敢问死。”曰：“未知生，焉知死？” Disciple Ji asks,"How should we serve the gods and ghosts?" Confucius says,"We don't know how to serve the living well. How should we know how to serve the gods and ghosts." Disciple Ji,"May I ask about death then?" Confucius,"We don't know how to live our lives well. How should we know death?"  Confucius also said, "敬鬼神而遠之 " "Respect the gods and ghosts but stay far from away them." 

So, what is a Confucian to do when he needs help from god? It is said that a person often starts out as a Confucian until he is tired of the hard work and decides to pursue Taoist freedom. When his wife leaves him and takes the kids with her, he finally finds peace as a devout Buddhist. Confucius is pragmatic, he may approve of this man's life strategy.

The Confucian view of an ideal society is surprisingly modern, basically democratic socialism. It is laid out succinctly in 禮運大同篇 and you will want to read its English translation here.

 Confucius also said, “中庸之为德也，其至矣乎” “The Golden Mean must be the epitome of virtue." Confucian "Golden Mean" means staying centered, moderation, tolerating differences, being flexible but reject extremes.

Remember Hou Yi, the king who shot down nine suns? People made him the king but he turned out to be an intolerable tyrant. You may enjoy reading the lore of what his virtuous and beautiful wife did about that. She is now living on the moon. On Oct. 4, 2017, as on every Mid-Autumn Day, millions will tell or think of her myth. She is so popular that all the Chinese moon exploration missiles are named after her, 嫦娥 (Chang'e).